Cataraqui (ship)

For other uses, see Cataraqui (disambiguation).

Cataraqui (also called Cataraque^[1]) was a British barque which sank off the south-west coast of King Island in Bass Strait on 4 August 1845. The sinking was Australia's worst–ever maritime civil disaster incident, claiming the lives of 400 people.

Wreck of the emigrant ship Cataraqui, 1845
History
United Kingdom
Name	Cataraqui (Cataraque)
Owner	Smith & Sons, Liverpool, England
Builder	Williams Lampson, Quebec, Lower Canada
Launched	1840
Fate	Wrecked in Bass Strait, off King Island, Aug. 4, 1845
General characteristics
Class and type	Emigrant ship
Tons burthen	802 tons NM; 712 tons OM
Length	138 feet (42 metres)
Beam	30 feet (9 metres)
Draught	22 feet (7 metres)
Sail plan	Barque

Construction and technical details

Cataraqui was an 802 ton^[2] barque, of dimensions 138 × 30 × 22 feet (42 × 9 × 7 metres). The ship was built in Quebec, Lower Canada in 1840 by the shipwrights Williams Lampson. The name Cataraqui comes from the French transliteration of "Katerokwi", the original Mississaugas First Nation name for the area now known as Kingston, Ontario.

Voyage to Australia

Cataraqui was purchased and registered in Liverpool, England by Smith & Sons, for the purpose of transporting assisted emigrants to Port Phillip in the Colony of New South Wales (now Victoria, Australia).

On 20 April 1845, the ship sailed from Liverpool under the command of Captain Christopher Finlay. The ship's manifest on departure included 369 emigrants and 41 crew (410 total, including the captain). The voyage was fairly uneventful apart from the loss of a crew member overboard. By the time the vessel neared Australia, five babies had been born and six others had died.

Sinking

As Cataraqui entered Bass Strait in the early morning of 4 August, she encountered a severe storm. At about 04.30 hours, the ship was cast suddenly onto jagged rocks just off Fitzmaurice Bay on King Island off the north-western coast of Tasmania. Attempts to evacuate the ship were hindered by the large waves and heavy weather which washed many of the ship's occupants overboard. Eight crewmen managed to reach the shore by clinging to floating wreckage, where they encountered the only emigrant survivor, Solomon Brown. The nine castaways were stranded on King Island for five weeks until they were rescued by the cutter Midge and taken to Melbourne.^[3][4] 314 recovered bodies were buried on King Island in five graves.^[5]

Memorial

A memorial plaque is dedicated to the Cataraqui at the Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial at Triabunna on the east coast of Tasmania.^[6]

The plaque contains the following text:

Cataraqui
Built Quebec 1840, 802 T. 138 x 30 x 22 ft. Left Liverpool, England 20.4.1845 for Melbourne - Capt. C.Finlay, 43 crew 367 assisted emigrants (173 under 15). Enroute 5 babies born, 6 babies died, 1 seaman drowned thus 409 aboard when wrecked 4.8.1845 off W. coast King Is. 1 emigrant, 8 crew survived, 400 lost. ~ Tasmania's worst shipwreck ~[7]

See also

• Immigration history of Australia
• List of disasters in Australia by death toll
• Lemon, Andrew & Morgan, Marjorie (1995). Poor souls, they perished: the Cataraqui, Australia's worst shipwreck. Collingwood, Vic, Australian Scholarly Pub. ISBN 1-875606-26-2. OCLC: 36986583.